


Child of Fire

by Wilbutiswriting



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Blaze Hybrid Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hybrid Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), M/M, Multi, Web Series: Tales from the SMP
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:34:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29789943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wilbutiswriting/pseuds/Wilbutiswriting
Summary: Sapnap has always wanted to know where he really came from.This fic is also available in a collection of oneshots.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs & Sapnap
Kudos: 11





	1. Born in Flames

Sapnap gives Bad a crooked smile that feels almost as empty as he does these days. He doesn't necessarily have anything against his dad, but sometimes he just wishes that he could meet his real parents. He appreciates everything that Bad has done for him, but there's a sense of longing in his chest that has always pushed him to go out and find the truth.

Finding something like that might be easier if anyone actually knew where he came from. Maybe if Bad knew anything more it would be easier to find answers. 

"Would you like to meet the Egg?" Sapnap can tell by his tone that it's not the first time that Bad has asked and he frowns.

That's all he cares about these days. That stupid Egg. Sapnap couldn't care less about the thing. All he wants to do is mow down the vines and watch the chaos that it causes. Maybe he could set that shit on fire. 

He's been getting better at controlling his flame, but he can never be sure if he'll accidentally hurt someone with it. A few weeks ago he was messing around with it and his flame caught George. He had water, so it wasn't a huge deal, but all he can think about what might happen if Karl or Quackity found themselves on the other end of his flame. He can't risk hurting them.

"I think I'm gonna pass on that for today." Sapnap grabs his knapsack from beside his chair and stands up. "I should probably get going. Karl might start to worry if both of his fiancés are missing for too long."

Bad purses his lips with a nod. "How long has it been since you've seen Quackity anyways? At this rate, you might as well just marry Karl and forget about the pesky blister."

Sapnap feels flames lick at his skin as he glares at the only father figure he's ever had. "I know you don't like him, but you could at least pretend--for me. There is no world where Karl and I get married without Quackity, so get used to it."

Bad's face softens and he takes a step forward, crouching and reaching through Sapnap's fire to press his palm to his scruffy, bearded cheek. "You know I just want the best for you."

A sigh escapes him and the fire fades out, falling around him and sparking up the grass under his feet. "I know." He reaches up to put his own hand over Bad's. "You just need to understand that the best thing for me isn't always going to be what you think it is."

A frown pulls across the demon's face and his gaze shoots over his adopted son's shoulder. "You better get going. It's getting dark. Karl will be happier if you make it home safe instead of respawning."

Sapnap nods, stepping away from the much taller figure. "I'll see ya in a few days, Bad."

"Be careful."

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapnap passes their shroom farm just as night begins to fall and he let's a happy sigh fall from his lips as the entrance to their kingdom comes into view. 

Grass brushes at his ankles as he treks on, tickling his skin and making him wish that he had worn his longer pants that day. Usually, something like that wouldn't bother him much, but today has just dragged on too long for him. All he wants right now is to make it back home and cuddle up in bed with his fiancés. Or, at least Karl.

The library is bright and illuminated as he approaches the entrance. This was the first thing they built here. Their first big landmark. 

His sneakers soles slap against the hardwood floors as he makes his way to the mushroom in the back. Sapnap presses his palm to the large trunk of it, trailing his fingers down the smooth texture of it. The trap door under him creaks and he frowns.

He drops to his knees, pressing on each trap door and trying to remember which one Karl told him not to touch. He looks around himself, making sure that he's alone as his fingers curl around the wooden edge of one of them. It couldn't hurt anything if he just took a peek, right? Karl would never have to know.

He tugs on two of them with no luck, then moves onto the third. Something about this one is different. It has hinges. He really should have checked for that sooner. 

Sapnap almost expects the panel not to open, but it does. He climbs down the ladder before he can stop himself, letting the trap door slam shut as he descends.

The room he finds himself in is small and full of books. But they're not the same books that line the walls of the library upstairs. No, these books are all glowing in frames below pictures that Sapnap has never seen before. 

No, that's not true. He's seen one of them. A picture of him and Dream and Quackity. From that weird treasure hunt Karl convinced them to go on a while back. Why does he have that down here?

Everything else in the room looks old. Older than him and maybe even older than Bad. Like a collection of history or something.

Why would Karl feel the need to hide this from him? Sapnap doesn't care if Karl's a history nerd. No, there has to be something else here.

He looks around the room again and spots a chest just a few paces away. He approaches it slowly, reaching out to open it as he gets closer. Before he can, he notices something behind it: Karl. His face is pressed against the page of a book that he seemed to be in the middle of writing in before he fell asleep.

"Karl?" Sapnap rounds the chest and crouches in front of his fiancé who's skin looks paler than ever. "Karl?" He shakes the other man's limp body, pulling the book from his grasp and setting it on the chest next to them. 

Karl's eyes blink open slowly, his gaze hazy as he tries to figure out what's going on. 

For a moment, he smiles up at Sapnap. Then, as he realizes where they are, his expression grows panicked. "You shouldn't be in here. Why are you in here? You have to get out!"

"What?" Sapnap shakes his head as he tries to contain the smaller man in his arms. "It's just a bunch of books, Karl. Nothing is going to happen." Just as the words leave his lips the earth around them shakes, raining down dirt and mushroom pieces onto their heads. He looks down at Karl. "That was a coincidence."

Karl grits his teeth and closes his eyes. "No. No no no. You weren't supposed to see any of this. Now everything is going to be messed up." He squirms in Sapnap's grasp, clawing at his skin in an attempt to get away. "Let me go. I have to check on the library."

"The library is fine." Sapnap grabs Karl's shoulders and holds him an arm's length away. "I came through it to get here."

"No!" Karl screams this time, shoving Sapnap's hands away and shooting across the room. "Not this library. The other one."

"The other one?" Sapnap questions as he chases his fiancé up the ladder and into the Kinoko Kingdom Library. He checks to make sure that nothing is out of place as he follows behind the other man. "Karl? Where are you going?"

"Don't follow me!" The frenzied man shouts over his shoulder as he runs, kicking up patches of dirt with his shoes. "I have to fix this!"

Sapnap's pace never slows as he follows Karl all the way back to where L'Manburg used to sit. He sees the ruins of Party Island and stumbles over his own feet as he watches Karl duck into the empty cave that used to be his library. That must be what he meant.

There's evidence of the Egg's vines everywhere that he looks.

He follows with little hesitation, sliding down the ladder smoothly and landing heavily on his own feet. Sweat clings to his brow as he looks around for Karl's colorful sweatshirt. He searches around until he finds himself at the mouth of what looks to be a small cave, but grows as he descends until he finds himself face-to-face with Karl and a giant swirl that looks just like his sweatshirt.

Or--at least--how it used to look. Sapnap knew he wasn't crazy when he asked if it had changed.

"Karl?" Karl's gaze snaps to him as he approaches, regarding him in the same way one might regard a Creeper the first time they see one. "Karl?"

Karl shakes his head as tears stream down his bright red cheeks. "Something is wrong! There's a vine in here!" He reaches up and pulls down a Bloodvine, immediately throwing it away from himself like it burned him. "It can't get in here, Sapnap! It can't touch the portal!"

"'The portal'?" Sapnap takes a step closer as he studies the scene behind his fiancé. "That's just a bunch of dyed wool, Karl. The Nether portal is all the way-"

"Not the Nether portal!" Karl screams and shakes his head, turning to face the wall off wool and stroking his fingers across it. The blocks ripple at his touch. "The time portal. My portal."

"Karl-"

"No!" Sapnap has never seen Karl this passionate before. His long eyelashes as filled with tears and his normally flawless skin is blotchy and red as he shouts. "The Egg will ruin everything I've worked for!" He finally locks eyes with Sapnap. "I have to stop this."

Karl pushes his hand into the wavering wool. It slips right through and his foot follows. Almost all of him is through before Sapnap can do anything, but he does manage to take hold of Karl's second hand. He tries to pull him back, but he's not strong enough and Sapnap finds himself falling into the wool behind his fiancé.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing that Sapnap notices when he wakes up is the splitting pain in his forehead. The second thing he notices is the hand that's still interlaced with his own. Karl's hand. He tugs hopelessly as he tries to find a way to open his eyes, gasping as what must be Karl's entire body topples onto him. 

That certainly makes his open his eyes. His gaze lands on the softer man's face for only a few moments to make sure that he's still breathing before bouncing around to the environment that surrounds them.

His eyebrows pull together and he frowns. The Nether? So, that thing really was a portal? But, how?

"Wha-" Karl cuts himself off, quickly scrambling away from Sapnap with a confused look. "James?"

Sapnap frowns. That's not the first time Karl has called him by that name. "No. I'm your fiancé. Sapnap."

"You followed me through?" Karl's face is as pale as a ghast, even with the warmth of the lava lighting up his face. "How?"

"I grabbed your hand." He shakes his head and looks around them. "I thought you said it wasn't a Nether portal?"

"It's not." Karl glances around them for a few seconds. "It's never brought me to the Nether before. Which could only mean..." He's quiet for a long while. "Either, I was meant to come here or you messed it up."

"What?"

Karl just shakes his head as he starts looking around them for something. What that could possibly be, Sapnap isn't sure. Suddenly, he points somewhere behind Sapnap. "Fortress. We need to go there. I can feel it."

Sapnap lets Karl grab his hand and pull him along through the dangerous terrain of the Nether, cursing himself when he realizes that he doesn't have a single item or block on him. Karl tugs and yanks at Sapnap's arm the entire time, insisting that they have to go certain ways even though it's clear that Karl doesn't actually recognize a damn thing around them.

Finally, their sneakers hit the netherbrick of the Fortress. They weave through endless halls until they stumble upon a Blaze spawner platform, but instead of a Blaze spawner, the platform holds a single blaze and a grizzled looking man. His puffy white shirt is torn and burnt in several places and the mask that rests on his face is cracked in several places.

Sapnap could say that he doesn't recognize the man, but that would be a lie. He looks almost like a carbon copy of the man in front of him, give or take a few decades. 

His eyes shoot to his fiancé. Karl's confusion shows on his face, but there's also a hint of familiarity in those features. "Do you know him?"

Karl give Sapnap a short glance. "That's James."

Sapnap feels fire lick his skin and it takes him a moment to realize that he's the one generating it. He steps away from Karl, only to realize that his flame isn't affecting him. "What the-"

Karl shushes him, watching the scene in front of them avidly. 

Sapnap turns his head to watch, too, wondering what it is about this guy that could make Karl become so entranced. Sure, he's good looking, but so is Sapnap. And Sapnap's his fiancé, shouldn't that count for something? 

He takes a step forward without thinking, the sound echoing off of the enclosed walls and drawing the attention of the man that is just a few steps above them. 

"Karl?"

That's the only thing he says before the Blaze in front of him shoots him with fireballs. He lets out a scream and drops his sword to the ground as his body burns.

Sapnap tries to rush forward to help him, but Karl grabs his arm and wrestles him back as they watch James fight for his life. He looks at them--at Karl--for a moment before using the last of his energy to throw himself onto the Blaze.

A blast of light overtakes Sapnap's vision for a moment before dying back down into the dull light of the Fortress hall. When his eyes finally adjust, he sees something he didn't expect. A flaming baby.

"Is that-" His question gets cut off by the sound of loud loud and heavy footsteps. 

Karl snags his hand again and pulls him to the side, urging him to start digging at the netherrack with his hands so that they can hide. They just barely make it into their hide-y hole when a tall figure reaches the end of the hall they were just in.

The two of them watch on as Bad walks passed them and up the stairs, crouching the whole way. "I thought I heard something over here. I wouldn't have guessed it was a baby on fire, but that's honestly not the weirdest thing I've seen in these places. Let's get you out of here, buddy." Bad lifts the baby up and turns around until Karl and Sapnap can see the baby clearly. 

As he walks away, Sapnap stares in awe. He's not sure how, but that baby was him.


	2. His Third Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of seeing his own birth, Sapnap struggles with his own morals.

"Karl?" Sapnap looks back at his fiancé as he stumbles out of their hiding spot. "Is this... Are we in the past?"

Karl's gaze is steady and glossed over, piercing straight through Sapnap as he also makes his way out into the open hall of the Fortress again. Bad's footsteps are long gone by now, but neither of them raise their voices any higher than a whisper. "Yes. At least, we must be. I never really know at first."

Sapnap feels the question that's been bugging him slipping out of his mouth without much thought. "Who was that? That James guy?"

Karl frowns and lets out a heavy breath. "I met him once. During a different trip though my portal. But he's supposed to be dead. He was dead."

"You watched him die?" He reaches out, pulling the smaller man into his arms and holding him tightly against his chest. "Twice."

They stand there for a few minutes, Sapnap running his hands along Karl's back soothingly in an attempt to make him feel better. He's never really had to deal with death and comforting someone. Everyone around him that he cares about have come back when they've lost a life. Losing one has never been a big deal. At least, not for him.

He's never lost a life of his own. Never had to deal with going through whatever everyone else goes through when they've died. Sure, he's fallen pray to a creeper or two, but that's nothing like falling victim to a death at the hands of one of his peers. It doesn't hold the same weight.

Karl pushes away from Sapnap's chest with a gasp, looking up with his hazel eyes full of tears that have yet to spill down his blotchy red cheeks. "You're him."

His brows furrow together for a moment. "What?"

"You're James. You've always been James." Karl blinks and tears catch in his eyelashes before finally breaking passed and flowing freely down his cheeks. "I thought I was crazy or sick. Looking at him the same way I've always looked at you after only knowing him for an hour or two. But I wasn't. Because he's you."

Sapnap just stares down at Karl as he talks, barely taking in a word as he tries to comprehend the first statement.  _ You're James _ . Logically, he knows that that shouldn't make sense, but he watched with his own eyes as that man who looked so much like him melded together with that blaze. He watched as they morphed into a fiery baby with a wail loud enough to shatter eardrums. He watched as the demon he's always known as his father scooped him up and carried him away, staking a claim on a baby that's so familiar only because of the few pictures he's seen of himself at that age.

And suddenly another thought occurs to him. If that really was James' second death, does that mean that Sapnap only has one, instead of the three that he's always assumed? Does he have even less time than he thought?

Karl's blabbering slowly trails off as he takes in the look of horror on his fiancé's face. Sapnap has never been an overemotional guy, so seeing him with flames lifting his hair and tears so hot that they morph into lava and burn soft white cheeks sends Karl aback a bit. Fire dances around them, pulsing with every sob that tears through Sapnap's broad chest and igniting infinitely brighter as his head drops to Karl's shoulder.

"Sapnap?" His voice is soft and warm as he pushes a hand up into the other man's soft, dark hair. "Sapnap, are you-"

A screech breaks through the roaring fire and something hits Karl in the side of his ribs, pushing both of them and making them fall to their knees. Sapnap's head snaps up, his normally deep blue eyes completely taken over by an angry fiery red. He lets out a yell--a war cry--and engulfs the entire hallway in flames that burn not only the blaze that interrupted their moment, along with the spawner. The netherbricks around them have visible charring as the fire dies back down to only encapsulate the two of them.

Karl takes a single step back, immediately grabbing Sapnap's hand and turning away. "We need to leave. We have to get back home."

Sapnap knows that he's right, but part of him wants to stay right where he is and never move again. Why should he? He could just die at any moment and never come back. He's been so reckless during all of the wars because he always just assumed he would come back and everything would be fine. Finding out that he's been living on borrowed time irks him.

Of course, he could be wrong. The universe might have decided to grace him with a full three lives, but how could he ever figure that out? If he dies and he  _ does _ only have one life yet, then that's it. 

Unless...

Dream. The resurrection book. He could get it. Have a failsafe just in case. 

He thinks about it as Karl drags him along. He'd have to break a lot of trust to get that book. Break so many promises that he made to himself and others. But what choice does he have? He needs to know.

The trip back through the portal is confusing. He steps onto obsidian only for his foot to land on stone. Behind him is the wall of wool and beside him is his sweet fiancé who has apparently been keeping more secrets from him than he could have ever imagined. 

Karl doesn't even look at him as he walks away, pulling several books out of the single chest that rests in the cave and dropping down as he immediately starts writing. Sapnap just watches him, pressing his back against the stone around them as he waits.

He needs to go see Dream. He needs to figure out a way to get him out and get that book.

Can he even trust Dream anymore? After everything he's seen the other man do, should he really put his own life and so many others at risk just to satisfy some dumb theory that might not even matter in the long run? Should he risk everyone around him, just to figure out if he has a measly two extra lives? Should he risk his fiancés and their trust in him, just to satisfy himself?

The cave around them lights up as he thinks about it. He's never had this much trouble with his flame before. Usually, he can barely get it to light, but now it's like he can't make it stop.

At least Karl seems to be immune to it. Somehow. He wonders absently if Quackity would be affected by it. If there's just something about his fiancés that keeps them safe from him. Not that either of them have seen Quackity in weeks.

At some point, Karl stands up, looking dazed and out of it when his gaze finally catches on Sapnap. "What are you doing here?"

Sapnap pushes himself away from the wall of the cave and grabs Karl's hand, feeling his flame die down just slightly as he smiles at the other man fondly. "Just came to find you. Are you ready to go home?"

Karl grins up at him, the look in his eyes sweeter than sugar and honey. "Yeah. Let's go home."

They don't talk as they climb out of the cave, cutting down bloodvines again on their way out. Their hands twist together in a familiar way that warms Sapnap from the inside out, causing a trail of burnt grass to form behind them as they make their way towards their new kingdom. Neither of them comment on it, but Sapnap does look behind him every few steps to make sure that the flames don't spread to the buildings around them as they leave the main territories. 

By the time the mushroom barn comes into sight, Sapnap can feel Karl lagging behind. His eyes droop with every step they take and Sapnap has the urge to pick the other man up and carry him the rest of the way to the library. 

When their feet finally land on hardwood and mushroom, Karl pulls away and gives Sapnap a short, apologetic look. "I'll be right back." He dips behind the large mushroom in the back of the room and Sapnap wonders if Karl remembers any part of what just happened. Wonders if that's why he has so many books down there.

He pops back out of his little hole quickly enough and the two of them make their way to the single bed that rests in the room until they can someday build a real house for themselves. They climb in together, squeezing tightly against each other on the small mattress. Karl's breath tickles Sapnap's skin through the thin fabric of his shirt.

Soft snores carry through the mostly empty room as Sapnap feels his own eyes start to fall of their own volition. His last thought before he finally passes out is of Dream and the supposed book that could give him all of the answers he needs.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapnap's eyes snap open, expecting the bright light of the sun to be blinding him from the doorway, but instead there's a dark figure hovering over him. It's not dark for long. His flame ignites, engulfing everything around him. 

The person steps back and Sapnap tries to kill the flame before it can ruin any of the building around them.

He steps out of bed, leaving Karl to lay by himself as he takes up a defensive position. "Who are you and what are you doing in Kinoko Kingdom?" His voice is strong and demanding, just the way he wants it to be.

A chuckle breaks through the chilly air around him, lifting the hairs along his arms. "Is that any way to speak to your fiancé?" 

Sapnap's shoulders drop and he steps closer to the other man. "Quackity?" Hope fills him as he stumbles forward. "You're back!" Another soft laugh hits his ears and he stops moving. That's not Quackity's laugh. "Schlatt. Show yourself!" He draws his sword as he looks around them. "Quackity, get over here. He can't hurt you anymore."

"You really are stupid, aren't you?" The voice that wraps around him is warped and jumbled, a mix of familiarity and harsh bitterness. Another loud laugh shatters the atmosphere around them. 

His flame pulses enough for him to see Quackity's face morphing and changing, growing horns only for them to disappear again. His pickaxe scar breaks open, pouring blood down his cheek as he continues to cackle with two voices.

Behind him, Karl moves around in bed and Sapnap spins to find him completely drained of his color. His sweatshirt that's usually so vibrant and bright is now only shades of gray and white. His eyes are cold and empty, staring blankly back at Sapnap as he sits up in bed. "James?"

Wind whips around them all and whispers fill his ears. Promises of impossible things filling his head as the entire floor above them flies into the sky. 

Bad stares down at him, somehow even larger than normal. His hand reaches down, rescuing Sapnap from the hell that has taken over his new home and lifting him until he can't even see the ground below them.

"Dad?" He rarely ever calls Bad that, but it slips passed his lips anyways.

Bad just gives him a grin and a short laugh. "You're not my son." His voice gets impossibly deep. The world around them shakes and Sapnap stumbles in Bad's palm. 

A new laugh surrounds him at the same second that Bad's hand disappears from under him. A laugh that he knows all too well. He falls for so long, listening to the maddening laugh until he finally finds himself face down against the dirt. 

"Finally." That cold voice blankets him as he tries to get up. Something presses at the middle of his back and he collapses back to the ground. "You're here. I wondered how long it would take you to show up."

Dream's voice feels like knives on Sapnap's skin.

"Get me out of here. Get me out of here. Let me out!" His tone changes and he screams. Sapnap's ears ring as the sound of it gets louder and louder with every word and he tries to muffle it with his hands. The yells just get louder and harsher and angrier, begging him to let Dream out. "If you want that stupid book, you have to let me out, Sapnap!"

The words dance around his head, almost visible even when he closes his eyes. 

It's only when he has the strength to open them again that everything finally falls silent. He's back in the library, with Karl cuddled up to his chest as the cold night air pushes its way into the large room. It's so quiet, but his ears still hurt as he stares up at the ceiling.


End file.
